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The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) welcomed a record number of 985 members and their guests to its 17th Annual Dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London last month.

The popularity of the dinner, which was previously held at the Hilton, on London’s Park Lane, enabled the association to move the event to a larger venue for 2011.

Charlotte Egan [pictured], IBIA Event Manager, said, “The decision to move the event to the Grosvenor House was a wise one. Its capacity for dinners is one of the largest in London. We were confident from the success of the 2010 event that numbers were going to keep increasing, and we were right. This is the largest number of stakeholders in the bunker industry that we have ever had under one roof, and I really don’t see it starting to slow down.”

The IBIA Annual Dinner focuses on bringing members and non-members together for one night of networking, making it the biggest event for the bunker industry in the UK. Members and their guests enjoyed a fabulous three-course dinner, with pre- and post-dinner drinks receptions, which gave them the opportunity to meet with key members of the bunker industry.

Ian Adams, IBIA Chief Executive, said, “Since I started with IBIA in 2001, it has always been my ambition to take the Annual Dinner to one of the largest venues in London. It was quite an experience on the night to see close to a thousand people networking and enjoying the dinner, which I am proud to say has now reached its pinnacle. I look forward to seeing this grow even further in 2012.”